Vending machine



June 18, 1963 R. B. LASHLEY VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug.11, 1959 INVENTOR. ROBERT B. LASHLEV PATENT AGENT June 18, 1963 R. B.LASHLEY 3,094,241

VENDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 11, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ROBERT E.LASHLEY 2 ,F/GJ QUQ 5.5%;

PATENT AGENT United States Patent 3,094,241 VENDING MACHINE Robert B.Lashley, 2863 Westgate Ave., San Jose 25, Calif. Filed Aug. 11, 1959,Ser. No. 833,057 3 Claims. (Cl. 221-110) The present invention relatesto vending machines, and more particularly, to machines for vendingpackaged items such as bottled soft-drinks.

Various difiiculties have been observed in commerciallyavailable vendingmachines. Probably the most severe dilficulty encountered results fromthe complexity and consequent high cost of such machines which allowsonly certain preferred locations to be economically feasible.Additionally, however, the complexity of these machines increasesinstallation and maintenance costs. Moreover, in the case of bottledsoft-drinks and other articles having frangible packaging, jamming and/or breakage of the articles presents an additional difficulty.

Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to providea simple, but extremely effective vending machine, particularly thoughnot exclusively, adapted for dispensing bottled soft-drinks.

It is a feature of the invention to provide a vending machine having aplurality of compartments of utmost design simplicity and adapted todischarge bottles or other packaged goods stored therein through acommon discharge or delivery chute.

It is a further feature of the invention to provide such compartmentswith an extremely simple but eifective means for precluding accidentaldischarge of bottles or other articles therefrom except when properlyactuated by the vending mechanism. v

Additionally, it is a feature of the invention to effect completion ofthe bottle delivery to the consumer after initial instigation by thesingle vending mechanism mentioned hereinabove through additionalmechanism automatically actuated by the weight of the bottle or otherarticle itself. r

' It is a correlated feature of the invention to provide for theautomatic controlled discharge of the bottles or other packaged goodswherefore even though they move under their own weight, as mentionedabove, no breakage or jamming is experienced.

It is another feature of the invention to provide means for renderingthe vending mechanism inoperative once a given vending or dispensingcycle has been instigated and to maintain such inoperativeness until thevending is complete.

Additionally, it is a feature of the invention to provide for thedelivery or discharge of the bottles or other packaged goods from thevending machine through a chute whose passage is restricted in a mannerpermitting the discharge of a single bottle, but precluding simultaneouspassage of more than one bottle and also precluding insertion of anyforeign object wherefore the device is rendered tamperproof.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become moreapparent from a perusal of the following description of the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

- FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a vending machineembodying the present invention with the front thereof removed toillustrate interior details of its construction,

FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary diagrammatic views il- -lustratingsuccessive stages in the vending or dispensing of a bottle from onecompartment of the structure, as illustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the vending structureillustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 and illustrating additional details ofconstruction,

3,094,241 Patented June 18, 1963 FIGS. 5 and 6 are two similar viewsconstituting fragmentary sections taken substantially along line 55 ofFIG. 1 and illustrating successive stages in the dispensing of a singlebottle, and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the electrical circuit of the mechanismillustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6.

As shown in the drawings, the vending machine includes a generallyrectangular cabinet or housing 10, having a front cover or wall 12 (seeFIGS. 5 and 6) which is removable to enable loading of articles into thehousing and access to the operating parts for periodic maintenance orrepair. Suitable refrigerating equipment (not shown) can be installed inthe bottom of the housing 10 to maintain its contents at the desiredtemperature.

A plurality of compartments 14 are formed in mirror symmetry on oppositesides of the housing 10 for storage of soft-drink bottles B, asillustrated, or other articles to be vended. It will be observed thatwhile the following description of structure and operation is made withreference to bottled soft-drinks, other articles can be vended throughits utilization.

The mentioned compartments 14 are of appropriate dimensions to receivethe bottles B in side-by-side prone dispositions and are quite simplyformed by a plurality of superposed shelves 16 which are fixed to theside and rear walls 18, 20 of the cabinet 10 so as to slope upwardlyslightly from each side toward the central portion thereof. The sidewalls of each compartment 14 are formed by the rear and side walls 18,20 of the housing and by the front cover 12, when the latter is inclosed position, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, but the space between theinwardly-projecting ends of the superposed shelves 16 is left open toprovide a lateral exit 14a for the bottles B or other articlestherewithin.

In order to discharge bottles B one-by-one from the compartments 14through the described lateral exit 14a, a belt 22 is fixed to the end ofthe lowermost shelf 16, as indicated at 24, and is then foldedsuccessively into each of the compartments so as to surround the bottlesB loaded therewithin and extend along the resulting sinous path to areel 26 disposed above the uppermost shelf. This reel 26 is drivenslowly by a motor and suitable gear reduction unit 28 (see FIG. 7) torevolve in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1 so that the belt iswound on the reel and tends to achieve a disposition defining theshortest distance between the reel 26 and its fixed end 24 at the edgeof the lowermost shelf 16. Consequently, if the shelves 16 illustratedat the left of FIG. 1 be considered, winding of the belt 22 on the reel26 will initially tend to foreshorten the belt between the two uppermostshelves 16 so as to urge the bottles B lying in the compartment 14therebetween to the right wherefore continued turning of the reel willdischarge first one and then another of the bottles from the uppermostcompartment. Once the uppermost compartment 14- is emptied, the sameeffect occurs in the compartment 14 therebelow until almost all of thebottles B are discharged as can be seen by reference to the right sideof FIG. 1, and finally, all the bottles B are discharged leaving thebelt 22 stretched tautly from its fixed end connection 24 over the edgesof the superposed shelves 16 and thence around the reel 26.

To reload the emptied compartments 14, the front cover '12 is opened andthe reel 26 temporarily disengaged from its drive connection. The belt22 is then refolded into the compartments 14 whereupon a new supply ofbottles B may be inserted in their side-by-side prone dispositionswithin all of the compartments.

Since the shelves 16 slope upwardly to the lateral exit 14a, the bottlesB are maintained within the compartments 14. However, to restrict thelateral exit 14a and prevent accidental discharge of a bottle, the belt22 is arranged to pass around a rod or roller 30 that .is rotatably andslidably suspended at its ends in parallel slots 32 that slope inwardlyand downwardly at the extremity of each shelf 16. The weight of this rodor roller 30 is sufiicient .to urge the contacted portion of the belt 22downwardly to partially close the exit 14a from each compartment 14 whenno tension is placed upon the belt in the manner illustrated in fulllines in FIG. 1 and in phantom lines in FIG. 2. However, when rotationof the reel 26 in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1 is instigated,the tension on the belt 22 initially causes the roller 30 to moveupwardly in its slot to the full line position in FIG. 2 and thus openthe compartment exit 14a for passage of a bottle B therethrough. Afterthe rod 30 has been moved upwardly toopen the lateral exit 14:: forpassage of a bottle, continued winding of the belt 22 on the reel 26effects movement of the bottles B to the right, until the outermostbottle is shoved out of the compartment 14 and onto a receiving shelf 36to be described hereinafter, as illustrated in FIG. 3. When the windingof the reel 26 stops, the rod 30 pushes the belt 22 downwardly into itsexit-blocking position once again, and such position is maintained untilanother vending operation is instigated.

One of the mentioned receiving shelves 36 is supported between each pairof compartment shelves 16 on opposite sides of the vending machinehousing 10 so as to be in position to receive a bottle dispensed eitherfrom the left hand or right hand compartment 14 adjacent thereto. Asbest shown in FIGS. 4, and 6, each of these shelves 36 is pivoted at acentral position about a substantially horizontal bar 38 suitablysupported on brackets 40 which project from the rear wall 20 of thehousing. A counter weight 42 is attached to the rear portion of eachpivoted shelf 36 so as to hold the same normally in a horizontaldisposition, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, but when a bottle B is receivedwith its heavier bottom end on the forward portion of the shelf, thecounter-weight 42 is overcome and the shelf 36' pivots towards avertical disposition in the direction of the arrow C in FIG. 5. After acertain amount of pivotal motion has occurred, the bottle B will slidealong the surface of the tilted shelf 36 to eventually engage theforward portion of the next shelf thereunder and also the front cover 12of the housing so as to be guided suc cessively between the pivotedshelves 36 and the cover 12 into the interior end of a discharge ordelivery chute 50, the described bottle path being indicated by thearrow D in FIG. 6. After the bottle B has passed, the counter weights 42on the respective shelves 36, in turn, cause each to return in thedirection of arrows E in FIG. 6 to its horizontal dispositionpreparatory to reception of a successive bottle.

The mentioned discharge chute '50 is supported by and extends angularlythrough the front cover 12 of the housing to enable delivery to thepurchaser. However, in accordance with an additional aspect of thepresent invention, a cradle gate 52 in the form of a semi-cylindricalmember is pivoted about a horizontal axis so that either its forward orrearward portion 52a or 52b respectively is projecting into thedischarge chute 52 to block movement of articles therethrough. Normally,as illustrated in FIG. 5, the forward end 5211 of the cradle gate 52projects into the chute 50 under action of a counter weight 54 on therear portion 52b thereof, but when a bottle B enters the cradle gate, itcauses pivoting thereof in a counterclockwise direction into theposition illustrated in FIG. 6 whereat the rear portion 52b of the gateis brought into blocking position, but the bottle B can move through theopened forward portion 52a to the exit of the discharge or deliverychute 50 for reception by the purchaser. It is to be noted that thecradle gate 52 is dimensioned so that only a single bottle B can bedisposed therein at one time and any article of larger dimensions cannotbe accommodated. In particular, it will be noted that any attempt toinsert an element into the discharge chute 50 from the exit end thereofwill be effectively blocked by such gate 52. Consequently, no tamperingwith the contents of the unit is enabled.

The actual vending operation is instigated, as previously mentioned, bythe turning of one or the other of the belt reels 26, and such actionis, in turn, started by closure of an electrical circuit, asdiagrammatically indicated in FIG. 7, which energizes the motor unit 28which drives the reel. The motor is connected in a circuit whichincludes a Volt AC source 60 and a main switch 62 which is closedthrough insertion of a coin into a coin control mechanism, or anysimilar actuating mechanism which forms no part of the presentinvention. The circuit also includes a number of normally closedswitches 64 arranged for actuation by movement of the pivoted shelves 36and the cradle gate 52. Physically, one switch 64 is disposed on therear wall 20 of the housing 10 adjacent the rear end of each of thepivoted shelves 36 so that when such shelf leaves its normal horizontaldisposition, the switch 64 is opened to thus break the circuit and stopthe motor unit 28 which drives the reel 26. Another switch 64 issimilarly associated with the cradle gate 52 so as to be opened when thecradle gate is swung to its bottle-dispensing position, as illustratedin FIG. 6.

Consequently, after the motor has been energized through suitableactuation of the coin control mechanism, the reel 26 will turn until onebottle B has been moved from its compartment 14 onto the pivoted shelf36 and such shelf has started to move from its horizontal towards avertical disposition. At this point, the associated switch 64 opens sothat further rotation of the reel 26 ceases and the circuit remainsdeenergized until the bottle B has been removed by the purchaser fromthe exit of the delivery chute 50. The machine is then ready forinstigation of another bottle dispensing operation.

It will be noted that the only requisite actuation is the small movementof the belt 22 to instigate initial movement of the bottle B from thecompartment 14 onto the adjacent pivoted shelf 36; thereafter the bottleB resting on the uppermost shelf 36 moves downwardly from one shelf tothe next and through the cradle gate 52 under its own weight. Althoughthe bottle B does travel thus under its own weight, the counter weights42, 54 on the shelves 36 and the cradle gate 52 are suficient torestrain its motion to a relatively slow speed so that the resultantcontrolled descent eliminates the possibility of bottle breakage andconsequent jamming.

Further, it will be observed that while the bottles B roll out of thecompartments 14 during their initial motion, other packaged goods ofmore rectangular configuration can be slid therefrom by the samebelt-actuating mechanism and may thereafter travel down the shelves 36and through the cradle gate 52 for delivery to the purchaser. Thus, aspreviously mentioned, the vending machine is not restricted to thehandling of bottles.

Various alterations and/ or modifications can obviously be made in thedescribed structure without departing from the spirit of the inventionand accordingly the foregoing description is to be considered as purelyexemplary and not in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is tobe indicated by reference to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A vending machine which comprises a plurality of superposed, fixedshelves forming a plurality of com/ partments therebetween for storageof bottles or the like and having lateral exits, said shelves beingdisposed to support, substantially, the entire weight of the bottles andto resist, by gravitational force, bottle movement through said lateralexits, a belt arranged for folded insertion into said compartments toencompass the bottles therewithin, said belt being fixed at one end, awinding reel for said belt at its remote end, means for rotating saidreel to wind in said belt and urge said bottles ofi the end of saidshelves and out of said compartments, and means movably supported inengagement with said belt at the exit end of each compartment andarranged to urge said belt into exit-blocking position.

2. A vending machine which comprises a plurality of superposed, fixedshelves forming a plurality of compartments therebetween for storage ofbottles or the like and having lateral exits, a belt arranged for foldedinsertion into said compartments to encompass the bottles therewithin,said belt being fixed at one end, a winding reel for said belt at itsremote end, means for rotating said reel to wind in said belt and urgesaid bottles otf the end of said shelves and out of said compartments,and means movably supported in engagement with said belt at the exit endof each compartment and arranged to urge said belt into exit-blockingposition, said belt engaging means including a roller rotatably andslidably supported at its ends in slots.

3. A vending machine which comprises a plurality of superposed fixedshelves forming a plurality of com partments therebetween for storage ofbottles or the like and having lateral exits, said shelves beingdisposed to support substantially the entire weight of the bottles andto resist by gravitational force bottle movement through said lateralexits, a belt arranged for folded insertion into said compartments toencompass the bottles therewithin, said belt being fixed at one end, awinding reel fior said belt at its remote end, means for rotating saidreel to wind in said belt and urge said bottles off the end of saidshelves and out of said compartments, means for stopping rotation ofsaid reel in response to the movement of the bottle out of anycompartment, said reelstopping means including a pivoted shelf arrangedto receive a bottle from one of said compartments and an associatedswitch actuated by pivotal motion of said shelf, said pivoted shelfbeing normally disposed in a substantially horizontal disposition butarranged to pivot toward vertical disposition under the weight of areceived bottle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS621,182 Tribble Mar. 14, 1899 622,932 Tribble Apr. 11, 1899 1,865,232Butler June 28, 1932 2,187,233 Garner et al. Jan. 16, 1940 2,376,960Clem May 29, 1945 2,441,519 Terhune May 11, 1948 2,443,376 Case June 15,1948 2,453,280 Stewart Nov. 9, 1948 2,569,798 Carroll Oct. 2, 19512,772,022 Menning et al. Nov. 27, 1956 2,877,928 Patzer et al. Mar. 17,1959 2,990,974 Brown July 4, 1961

1. A VENDING MACHINE WHICH COMPRISES A PLURALITY OF SUPERPOSED, FIXEDSHELVES FORMING A PLURALITY OF COMPARTMENTS THEREBETWEEN FOR STORAGE OFBOTTLES OR THE LIKE AND HAVING LATERAL EXITS, SAID SHELVES BEINGDISPOSED TO SUPPORT, SUBSTANTIALLY, THE ENTIRE WEIGHT OF THE BOTTLES ANDTO RESIST, BY GRAVITATIONAL FORCE, BOTTLE MOVEMENT THROUGH SAID LATERALEXITS, A BELT ARRANGED FOR FOLDED INSERTION INTO SAID COMPARTMENTS TOENCOMPASS THE BOTTLES THEREWITHIN, SAID BELT BEING FIXED AT ONE END, AWINDING REEL FOR SAID BELT AT ITS REMOTE END, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAIDREEL TO WIND IN SAID BELT AND URGE SAID BOTTLES OFF THE END OF SAIDSHELVES AND OUT OF SAID COMPARTMENTS, AND MEANS MOVABLE SUPPORTED INENGAGEMENT WITH SAID BELT AT THE EXIT END OF EACH COMPARTMENT ANDARRANGED TO URGE SAID BELT INTO EXIT-BLOCKING POSITION.